8th Grade Science Benchmark Fall

Below is a picture of the rock strata of a mountain.

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What is the best inference about the layers in this picture?

A group of students is developing a model that shows how geoscience processes gradually change Earth’s surface. The group comes up with the following drawing.

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How can this model help the students explain how geoscience processes shape Earth's surface?

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Which of the following statements about rock formation is the most accurate?

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Jess is explaining to her sister how sedimentary rocks are formed. She explains how sediments undergo cooling to become sedimentary rock.
Her explanation is not correct. How would you change it so it is more accurate?

Examine the diagram below. At one time, these layers were found in the same area of land. Yet they have weathered very differently, with one location having more layers than the other location.

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Explain what has happened to cause the layers in these locations to weather differently and how this provides evidence that Earth’s surface has changed over time.

The first watermelons cultivated many years ago (3000 BCE) were very different from today’s watermelons grown by farmers in many places and climates all over the world.
The data table compares how watermelons today compare to the oldest known watermelons.

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Which of the following statements most correctly explains why modern watermelons differ from those grown in ancient times?

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Freckles are a dominant trait. Brianna has freckles, but her husband, Emilio, does not. They calculate the chances that their children will have freckles by completing a Punnett square.

What is the probability that each child will have freckles?

Mutations are structural changes to genes that may affect proteins. Some mutations are beneficial, meaning that they help the organism. Some mutations are harmful because they reduce the organism’s ability to survive or reproduce. Other mutations neither help nor harm the organism. These are called neutral mutations

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Which of these mutations would be considered neutral?

A gardener is planting tomato plants. She buys two packs of seeds: Pack A and Pack B. She plants all the seeds and gives them the same amount of water, light, and fertilizer. After a few months, she measures the plants and notices that the plants grown from Pack B are shorter on average than plants grown from Pack A.

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What could explain the difference in height between the plants from the two packs of seeds?

Below is an image of a family tree (first generation) showing a group of mice. A dark gray mouse and a white mouse had four offspring, some had white fur, while others had dark gray fur. Use the image below to help you answer the following questions.

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Which of the following descriptions about the parents is most likely true?

One of the white offspring (from the first generation in the introductory text) mated with an unrelated white mouse. Below is a family tree (second generation) showing these parents and their offspring. The parents’ genotypes are also shown in this image.

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Which best describes the light gray mouse’s genotype for the fur color trait?

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What is the best inference about the layers in this picture?

How can this model help the students explain how geoscience processes shape Earth's surface?

Which of the following statements about rock formation is the most accurate?

Jess is explaining to her sister how sedimentary rocks are formed. She explains how sediments undergo cooling to become sedimentary rock.Her explanation is not correct. How would you change it so it is more accurate?

Explain what has happened to cause the layers in these locations to weather differently and how this provides evidence that Earth’s surface has changed over time.

Which of the following statements most correctly explains why modern watermelons differ from those grown in ancient times?

Freckles are a dominant trait. Brianna has freckles, but her husband, Emilio, does not. They calculate the chances that their children will have freckles by completing a Punnett square.What is the probability that each child will have freckles?

Which of these mutations would be considered neutral?

What could explain the difference in height between the plants from the two packs of seeds?

Which of the following descriptions about the parents is most likely true?

Which best describes the light gray mouse’s genotype for the fur color trait?

Explain your reasoning.

Jess is explaining to her sister how sedimentary rocks are formed. She explains how sediments undergo cooling to become sedimentary rock.
Her explanation is not correct. How would you change it so it is more accurate?

Freckles are a dominant trait. Brianna has freckles, but her husband, Emilio, does not. They calculate the chances that their children will have freckles by completing a Punnett square.

What is the probability that each child will have freckles?